People’s Choice Winner Plays at Rio

This year’s Banff Centre Mountain Film Festival People’s Choice Award Winner, “The Bikes of Wrath,” will play March 15 at the Rio Theatre in Santa Cruz March 15 at 7 p.m.

The film follows five Australian friends as they attempt to cycle 2600 kms, from Oklahoma to California, in honor of the mighty westward migration undertaken by the Grapes of Wraths Joad family.

Through chance encounters with everyday Americans, the cyclists explore the novels core themes migration, inequality and the perceived land of opportunity and how the nation has progressed some 78 years after Steinbeck’s Dust Bowl depiction was first published.

It is through countless acts of generosity from small-town individuals and communities, to desolating encounters with unwanted Americans, that the cyclists experience first-hand the startling parallels of the novel in a country still grappling with immigration, wealth disparity and, ultimately, its own sense of identity.

“The Bikes of Wrath” couldn’t be timelier. Its a funny, heartbreaking, yet ultimately hopeful documentary that opens our eyes to the complexities of America, all while shining a positive light on the nation at a time when the world needs it most.